Constitutional Amendments - AP Government and Politics

The 13th Amendment formally abolished slavery. Contrary to popular belief, the Emancipation Proclamation did not legally abolish slavery (although, perhaps, it may have realistically abolished it). Slavery, technically, was somewhat enshrined in the Constitution (think of the 3/5’s Compromise, for example). Thus, the Radical Republicans pushed the 13th Amendment through Congress in order to ensure that the “peculiar institution” never cropped up again.

The Twenty-second Amendment to the US Constitution was passed through Congress in 1947, less than two years after the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was elected to four terms as President. The Twenty-second Amendment was largely proposed and supported by Republicans opposed to Roosevelt and his successor Harry S. Truman. Nonetheless, by 1951, the required 36 states ratified the Amendment.

The Eighteenth Amendment, passed in 1919, prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol and represents the official beginning of the Prohibition era in American history. In 1933, fourteen years later, the Twenty-First Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment and made the consumption of alcohol legal again. The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments relate to the expansion of civil and democratic rights to freed slaves in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

The Twenty-Third Amendment, passed in 1960, granted citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote in Presidential elections as if the district were a separate state. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the sale and use of alcohol, and the Twenty-First Amendment overturned it. The Nineteenth Amendment extended suffrage to women. The Twenty-Second Amendment set a term limit for the office of President to two terms.

Prior to the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Presidency was informally established with a two-term limit, based on the precedent laid down by the first President, George Washington; however, President Roosevelt served four consecutive terms, in large part due to the extraneous circumstances of the Great Depression and World War Two. In response to this, after Roosevelt died and Truman became President, Congress passed an amendment formally limiting the President to two-terms.

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1920 and represented the culmination of the decades-long battle to enfranchise women in the United States. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments primarily concern the extension of voting rights, and other rights, to racial minorities. The Sixteenth regarded taxation. The Eighteenth Amendment prohibited the sale and use of alcohol.

The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution establishes that the Senate should not longer be chosen by State Legislatures, but should be the result of a direct election of the people. As part of the broader historical context of the United States, it may be seen as part of the gradual extension of suffrage rights to the common man that took place over the first century or so of American history. It was passed in 1913 as the culmination of the Progressive movement, led by figures like William Jennings Bryan and Theodore Roosevelt, who advocated for greater faith and power being placed in the hands of the common man. The prohibition of alcohol was passed with the Eighteenth Amendment, and repealed with the Twenty-First; women were granted the same suffrage rights as men with the Nineteenth Amendment; a two-term limit was established for the President with the Twenty-Second Amendment.

The Thirteenth Amendment, passed in 1864 during the Civil War, made slavery and involuntary servitude illegal under the United States Constitution. The Fourteenth And Fifteenth Amendments are concerned with establishing equal rights to protection and suffrage for people of all races. The Sixteenth Amendment established an income tax. The Seventeenth Amendment established direct election of senators by a vote of the people.

The 10th Amendment was added to appease those who worried that the federal government would become too powerful and infringe upon the rights of the states. This amendment ensures that the states do have some power, although it as has some influence due to the addition of other amendments and Supreme Court rulings. This Amendment maintains that all powers not given to the federal government “are reserved to the States respectively,” so they should have control over issues not spelled out in the Constitution.

The voting age was lowered from twenty-one to eighteen by the passage of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, in 1971. The movement was some thirty-odd years in the making and gained a great deal of momentum in the 1960s. After Franklin D. Roosevelt had lowered the conscription age to eighteen during World War Two, it became rather obviously unjust that young men were being sent to fight in the Vietnam War without having any electoral say in whether their country should be there in the first place. This, coupled with the civic activism displayed by students and other young people in the 1960s, pressured the political powers to lower the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen.

The Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1992; it is the most recent amendment that has been made to the Constitution. It takes away the ability of Congress to regulate its own pay structure easily. Under the new amendment any changes to increase or decrease the wage of Congressmen will not come into effect until the beginning of the next term of office for representatives.

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the State and Federal governments from denying people aged eighteen to twenty-one the right to vote. Although some states already allowed eighteen-year-olds to vote, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment effectively lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. It was passed in 1971. The Twenty-First Amendment repealed prohibition; the Nineteenth Amendment gave women suffrage rights; the Twenty-Second Amendment set a two-term limit on the Presidency; the Twenty-Seventh Amendment ensures that any changes that Congress makes to raise or lower it’s own pay does not come into effect until the start of the next terms of office.

In order for an amendment to become part of the Constitution it must be ratified by three-fourths, or seventy-five percent, of the state legislatures.

The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, gave women the right to vote. The Eighth Amendment outlawed cruel and unusual punishment. The Fourteenth Amendment gave citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, including recently freed slaves. The Eighteenth Amendment established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, overturning prohibition laws.

There have been twenty-seven amendments to the United States Constitution. The most recent was in 1992, when an amendment was added to prevent Congress from raising its own wage immediately. Henceforth, any changes in the pay rate of Congress could only come into effect at the beginning of the next set of Congressional terms.

The 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919 and went into effect in 1920. It was brought about in an attempt to improve American society by eliminating alcohol, which many people believed caused people to sin and commit crimes. After being enacted this amendment actually brought a lot of problems to society, as it gave a lot of power and influence to the gangs who controlled the alcohol trade. This Amendment was later repealed by the 21st Amendment after 13 years of Prohibition.

Originally a President had to wait four months, from November until March, to assume the Presidency once he had been elected. This led to a considerable "lame-duck" period where the outgoing President was able to get little action completed, and the incoming President could do nothing to respond to national emergencies. This was particularly pronounced during the secession of the Confederacy in 1861, when Lincoln was unable to meet the threats proposed by the Civil War; however, it was not until 1933, when Roosevelt was prevented from doing anything to counter the threat of the Great Depression, that the Twentieth Amendment enacted the change from March to January into law.

A proposed constitutional amendment becomes a part of the U.S. Constitution upon ratification by three quarters of the States. No further approval by Congress or the President is needed.

The Constitution has been amended times, with the latest Amendment ratified in 1992. The 27th amendment enacted legislation regarding congressional salaries. The 26th amendment was passed in 1971, and was concerned with voting rights.